Newspapers / The Carolina Times (Durham, … / March 12, 1955, edition 1 / Page 7
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I BROWN SKIN AND BRIGHT LEAf The Story Of The Negro*» Role In The Tobacco Industry THE BOLD BEGINNING Chapter 1/ lirith bold ttroket, a broton hand wrote the fint page* of to- bacco’t hiitory in America. Bold because it required initi ative and daring for the Negro while still a slave to take the steps of expefimentation and discovery that advanced the en tire tobacco industry toward progress. While still a slave, the Negro dared to show his white overseers the best methods of producing, cultivating and ex ploiting his most profitable crop. While still less than a citi zen, the Negro in the tobacco field had all of the chu^cteris- tics of the free man ambition, curiosity, initiative, love of his work and pride in his accom plishment. The first money crop of the early Virginia colony was to bacco—^planted, harvested and cured by Negro slaves who had been especially imported from the Caribbean Islands. These Negroes, among the first to set foot on American soil, had pre viously worked on Caribbean tobacco plantations. Once trans planted to the foreign soil of Virginia, they steadfastly appli ed their Icnowledge of the “ta- baco” plant to the improvement -ol~the^coloBi«l stop. The white masters and the wiiite bond servants who toiled beside the Negroes in the fields alike ra- si>ected the Negro slaves' su perior Icnowledge of the mys terious ways of the tobacco plant, which grew strong and tall in good weather, but suf fered drastically from severe storms and droughts. Progress resulted, and it is recorded that Virginia rapidly became a to bacco colony, with citizens abandoning their normal trades to take a hancTin the raising of the crop that was “as good as gold”—80 good, in fact, that it was preferred to gold and silver as legal tender. By 1640, ex ports had increased from 20,000 to 1,300,000 pounds to tobacco, and the Assembly was consider ing legislation to force farmers to return to the cultivation of food crops. In the islands, therefore, Ne groes had grown tobacco for as long as anyone could remem ber...Perhaps that is why, back in England, they had always been associated with the leaf and its pleasures. The wooden Indian that still symbolizes to bacco to us originated in Eng land as a 1615 tobacco seller’s figure...a resplendent African tribesman, drinking his Pe- toune, carrying a huge cigar un der his arm, and wearing kilts made of tebeeeo- leaves. And, during the days of James I, it was customary for English tobacco venders to ad vertise their wares by hiring Kegro youths to imoke publicly and to direct curious passersby to tha{r employer’s shop. Not exai;^ a matter of pride is the pictuhi^f the unscrupu lous Negro N«ir Guinea slave traders of that l^e. Habitual smokers of maMve six-foot pipes' with stone ud leather bowls holding several handfuls of tobacco, these Negroes'” ac cepted 75-pound lots of tobacco in return for the sale of other Negroes into slavery. But a large part of the de velopment of the 100 per cent American tobacco which ac counts for the-superior quality of American cigarettes like Old Gold and Kent must be credited to hard-working Negro slaves who U)iled patiently with the early crops, striving always for a hardier pl{(pt, a rich yield, a finer, more ^fragrant leaf. If Negroes helped to raise tlie curtain on the drama of econo mic life in the New World, they were to play an even more im portant part in the exploitation of its resources, once here; and, though condemned to a lifetime status of slavery, they becaSits. an integral part of American economic life. In the century that followed the colored man in America was to play an even more Important part in the growing industry that was pro viding this nation with its basis of financial independence. For, in 1760, when George Washing ton was a young man and this nation still a band of colonies, the first tobacco factory in the United States was established by Pierre Lorillard, a French Hugenot. Here, in a small frame build ing in New York,- Pierre Loril lard manufactured snuff—later in 1792, he built a mill on the Bronx River where smoking to bacco was manufactured for the first time in the United States, with Negroes employed in both skkilled and unslcilled opera^ tions. ' The publication of tills story may bring additional pride to the descendants of Negroes like StephSi Slade, who discovered the flu-curing of bright tobac CO. A slave in Caswell County, North Carolina, Slade in 1839, worked out the complicated process of flue-curing which in volves the use of brick or stone “Icilns” or fireplaces with flues leading into tightly sealed bams that imprison all the smoke used in the drying of tobacco. A slow fire burning for some 48 hours turns the leaves to a bright lemon yellow; then tiigher temperature for another ("boes thatv^. jtell-tale look on your face say change of life? ^ A CTMt manjr women ralfer **eh«Dce of llf^ after forty. tlMr tir* Msily. *‘n«rve«**» •Imp Booriy, art hard to live with. Thtir term and fact mt that **ebange'* look. Cardut bat Mlp«d thouaandi of women to loM that **ehange" look. Gardui aet» to MU improT* appttUt. (2) thus build itwatth and wittawet.H Htse ttnslon mvi [ ntnrontnew-fllMp better. Let tripIe>aetIon €ardid bdp yott feel better; hmk better and I be your normal ebeerfol eelf again. Get ^Gardol today. (Say: “ecrd-you-ey^”), MONTHLY CRAMPS CHAN6E OF LiFI 10 to Id houiff drief the Mivm thoroughly; and a still hotter fire, burning nearly \ another day, "kills” the sap and mois ture in the stems. Slade'i in genious method is still the only one used in the curing df bright tobacco. Another Negro, Lunsford L>ane, a bondsman of Raleigh, North Carolina, earned his free dom by processing and market ing a blend of smoking tobacco which ffuned fame throughout the state..With the profits he earned from his “L,ane Tobac co,” Lane bought his own free dom. About this time Negroes play ed an important part in another forward step in tobacco manu facturing. Previously tobacco had been sold loose—leaf upon raw leaf januned into bulky packages. Negroes soon became .skilled specialists in the new “lump-making” procedure, fa shioning the fragile leaves into compact packets and twists. La ter this process was mechanized with the help of an invention by Jd^ ^P. Parker,, a Negro, who fecefved several patents in 1884 and 1885 for his “Screw for To bacco Presses.” To produce these presses, forerunners of an p«rt of io6n‘» tobaeeo numufacttire, Parker set up machine shop in Ripley, Ohio. Still another Negro—inven tor Elijah McCoy of Virginia— made a name, from an improve ment which indirectly led to the mass production of cigarettes. In 1872, McCoy introduced a lubricating cap which permit ted machines to be oiled with out stopping. His process was applied by another inventor who had been working on an autoinatic cigarette-making ma- chine...and, within three years, the machine was in use and mass production was on the way. This invention, together with the development of bright Virginia tobacco, was the foun dation for the great diversity of cigarette brands like Old Gold and Kent, etc. that we have to day. As a consequence, Ameri can cigarettes have become known and used the world over to the tune of a multi-billion dollars in production each year. Most of the foregoing de velopments, it must be remem bered took place before the abo lition of slavery. Yet on the great day of the proclamation, the Negro’s role in the drama of America’s third largest ■ field CARDUt Calvert Distillers Coriipany NEW YORK CITY BlENOeO WHISKEY 84.S PROOr. 6S% ORAIN NEUTRAL SflRITC 94.4 is#*" PINT S2.10 Gordon’s Gin Ills NnmuL tnint Msnua mH oum. u«Nrs ht aii n.. Ln., unden, n. i CHARLES COATS Salesman Carpenter’s Motor, Inc. YOUB CHEVBOLBT DEALIB Bos. Fhone 6921 — B«. 8-1288 616 EAST MAIN STBEET WlMa IKON-DirKIINCT ANIMU K—p» Tvm Tlr«4- fcaemmmmsi When that common blood condition known as Iron Deficiency Anemia leaves you rundown, tired and worn out, SJX TONft brings bletted nliefl Doctors will tell you that good blood is essential to good health. When your blood is starved for iron, when your appetite lags, reach for TONIC. In- Jtst on genuine SJJ. TONIC liquid or NEW eaty-to-take tablett at your drug connter. You will be satisfied or your money back. ^-I^Feel your best, fAKM S.S.S. TONIC A COMPLETE ELECTRIC AND TRANSPORTATION SERVICE DUKE POWER COMPANY DIAL 2151 Comer Mangnm and Parrish Sts. SATUIPAY, MAICH 12, IMS THl CAlOLIIfA TimBI New Anfi-Negro Grogp Threatens The South With KKK-Type Terror NEW York A secret vigilante group, dedicated to the prevention of desegregation at all costs, has risen in the deep South and now threatens to become a modem da# Klu Klux Klan, it was re vealed today. This white supremacy group, called the Citizens Councils, was founded in July 1954 to combat last year’s Supreme Court decision against segrega tion in the public schools. It is currently under investigation by the F. B. I. for possibly vio lations of civil liberties. These disclosures of the pow er and activities of the Citizens Coimcils were made today by Pulitzer Prize-winning editor Hodding Carter in an article in the new issue of Look Magazine entitled, “A Wave of Terror Threatens the South.” Mr. Carter, who is the editor of the Greenville, Mississippi, Democrat-Times, revealed that crop was just beginning.” Editor’s Note: Next Week Chapter III—^Fields of Gold which reveals. The Negro far mer in Tobaccoland; his contri butions and his progress; statis tics on his growing income and standards of living; inspiring individual case histories. the C.oancas Movement I spread unchecked through the state* of Missisaippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tenne««e, Arkansas, Louisiana, SotUh Carolina, and northern Florida. It has met no orgiinized oppoaition, Mr. Car ter said, a^ claims 25,000 members in Mississippi alone. In addition to its anti-Negro bia:i, the Councils are spreading anti-Semiitic and anti-Catholic propaganda as well, Mr. Carter charged in his Look article. The group was founded in Mississippi in July and has its permanent headquarters in Wi nona in that state, Mr. Carter revealed. - While no direct physical vio lence lias resulted from the Councils’ activities to date, the group has won each fight it tias entered in the last six monttis, Mr. Carter said. It operates by exerting economic and social pressures on recalcitrant Ne groes and whites. Tfie greatest danger posed by the Councils, Mr. Carter found, was the possibility that "the ex tremist fringe,” the “viciously uncontrollable,” and the "hood lum element" would take con trol of the organization and lead it to “widespread, organiz ed and racially motivated ter rorism.” -Hughes (Continuad frcn Psfa Twp) organist Hughes is the son of Her. asid Mrs. K. A. Hushes of WattvrQl*, Virginia, in the Delaware Con ference of the Mctho^iat Church.1 He began taking o^gan lesamis when he was seven. Be also plays the piano, 6arp and ▼iolin. He was i music ma}or at Clark College, Atlanta, Ga.. before entering the Army. Miller Hrst Of Race To Offer Prayerfor Senate ANNAPOLIS, Md. The Rev. Levi B. BCiller, Jr., executive secretary of Christian education in the Washington Conference of The Methodist Church, became the first Negro to offer prayer in the Bfaryland State Senate when he perform ed tlMt function on Thursday, February 24th. The following day, the Rev. A. J. Payne of Enon Baptist Church, Baltimore, offered the prayer. Both ministers were chosen through the efforts of State Senator Harry Cole, First Negro to be elected to the body. COME SEE WHY SO MANY FOOD SHOPPERS SAY ... I CAN SAVE MORE AT A&P BAKED APPLES SUNSWEET PRUNES CRYSTAL BRAND Large or Medium 21-oz. Can 1-lb. Pkg. 25c 30c AUSTEX BEEF STEW 2 29c FRUIT COCKTAIL T. 23c PIE CHERRIES 2 r 45c JANE PARKER - PEACH Or STRAWBERRY AN A&P EXCLUSIVE 1 1-lb. Tin SHORTENING 28( ^^75c PIES 49c 8-IN. PIES JANE PARKER SPANISH BAR CAKE EIGHT O’CLOCK COFFEE A&P PINEAPPLE Crushed EASTER JELLY EGGS, SALAD DRESSING Sultana HI HO CRACKERS Sunshine • WORTH- MORE ... each 29c 79c 23c 25c 35c 33c l-lb. Bag 10-os. Can 1-Ib. Pkg. Qt. Jar l-lb. • Pkg. NABISCO COOKIES • WAFFLE CREAMS • SUGAR WAFERS - • PEANUT BUTTER CREAMS 25c Cello Pkg. ^ESH FRUITS & VEGETABLES GOLDEN RIPE BANANAS TENDER GREEN BEANS . RED BUSS POTATOES CRISP CARROTS 2 lbs. 25c 2 lbs. 29c 5 lbs. 29c O CeDo “ Bags 19c Prices Effective Thru Saturday, March 12 I^arkets m
The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
March 12, 1955, edition 1
7
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